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Afghanistan:
Talibans are back Since
2014, Talibans have made an unprecedented military offensive to
regain control of a country that is now undermined by crime,
corruption and abuse of power. It is easy to predict that they will
soon be again masters of the country. Unfortunately,
as usual, international intervention leaves a country worse off than
before it arrived. The clumsiness and counterproductive measures
followed: instead of tackling drug trafficking, the United States, at
the time of President George W. Bush, had tried to eradicate poppy
cultivation. The Taliban immediately presented themselves as the
protectors of this essential means of subsistence for peasants. Under
Barack Obama, anti-corruption brigades had been set up, the
Shafafiyat (Transparency), led by General McMaster. But ultimately
the obstruction of President Hamid Karzai had rendered them
ineffective. Since then, there has simply been no will to intervene. The
creation of the national unity government, after the …

Americans
accused Russians of attacking their computers during the presidential
campaign. What should we think of the "democratic" push,
initiated by YouTube in Russia, in recent weeks? Why did MP Vitaly
Milonov propose to ban social networks after the anti-government
demonstrations, which have thrown much of Russian youth into the
streets? There is something destabilizing Russia right now. Serafim
Orekhanov, of the Carnegie Foundation, complains complacently that
many students and recent graduates have participated in these
protests because they watched, on YouTube, a film denouncing
involvement of Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev in Corruption scandals.
The film garnered over 15 million views on YouTube, more than any
content produced by non-government media, more than the daily
audience of Channel One, the nation's biggest channel. Meanwhile,
YouTube had opportunely changed the algorithm filtering videos, in
favor of longer, more political videos. The
opening sequence of t…

As Iraqi forces gradually regain their territory from the jihadists of the ISIS, the question remains open of the future of the Iraqi nation. The danger is still important to fall back into violence between the different religious or ethnic factions of the country.
In 2009, Iraq came out of the civil war, with the Americans as referees. This time, Americans no longer have the hand. The Kurds seek to cover their territory, the Shiite militias have ambitions over the country, former Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, maneuvers against the current Prime Minister, Haider al-Abadi.
Iraq actually lacks a national institution above the factions, capable of disarming militias; What had been achieved, precisely, by Saddam Hussein...
The key to disarmament is economic, to be demobilized men need to find work. In the context of present-day Iraq, it will probably be necessary to wait a long time, until a minimum economic development convinces the militias to abandon their weapons to return to work …